For Mike and Josie, finding a home was the first spark to ignite a series of events that lead to creating two businesses and a community of creative like minded people united by a singular taste for aesthetic. Sounds kind of esoteric right? Let me explain.
Musician, tattoo artist, and modern day renaissance man Mike Ski’s first mainstream career was graphic designing for major artists in the music industry. When I say major, I mean multi-platinum, record breaking, major labels, and box sets. You probably own a t-shirt he designed. Most of America unknowingly does. Being submerged in this line of work inspired him to transition into career number two, a multi-year musical tour with an infamous band known as the AKA’s. Mike met Josie on a subway platform in NYC and recruited her as the band’s keyboard player. They spent a career worth of time touring the world, opening, headlining and participating in festivals such as the Warp Tour. You have to hand it to Josie, she practically lived in a van with a bunch of smelly boys all the while maintaining a rock star level of glamour. And I think getting ready for work at the gym is challenging.
What do music and life have in common? Transitions. After all of that traveling Mike had designs on the next thing. It was time for him to establish a home base from which to use the connections he had nurtured in his past lives to create his own company, a prolific and successful design firm a la tattoo shop known as True Hand Society.
He came to me in the nick of time. In order to kick start career number three, Mike needed to ditch the van, invest, buy a house, build an empire. At the time we were able to easily convince a lender that a working musician deserved a mortgage. Fast forward to present day, not so easy. We looked at a ton of soulless rehabs in Fishtown before Mike stumbled upon something special that spoke to him. We drove by it. The location was stellar and it had a notably intricate black and red cornice along the top. Because it wasn’t on my radar I immediately objected, “It must be out of our price range”. Ego aside, I dug in. Low and behold, it was a brand new listing where the sellers hired a suburban agent who underpriced it and BANG! First one’s in the door. The house is Mike’s.
Sure, parts of the house held little captivation if anything but we’re working with artists here. Vision is key. Involving a host of craftsmen that we all consider friends and part of the tight knight group we hold near and dear, Mike and Josie transformed this house into a scrumptious, well designed, mouthwatering dream home. Most of the heavy lifting was done by our boy Frank Turchi at Tyce Renovations. A couple of their most notable creative touches include an original Adam Wallacavage chandelier and cabinetry hand crafted by our friend from the neighborhood Ben McBrien at Farmhaus Modern.
Mike and Josie, their connections and their friendship have become one of the most ultra-valuable assets to the Philly Home Girls to date. We run in the same pack and sold numerous homes to unmeasurably cool people they know. If they didn’t send them our way, they seal the deal by giving us their stamp of approval. They’re an essential anchor of the Philly Home Girls community. All of this both figuratively and literally because True Hand Society is the mastermind behind our incredible website.
Thanks Mike and Josie! We love you. Duh.